Undeniable Trust
by violets92
Summary: Post Trust Metric, Pre Hollywood Homicide. Megan visits Colby in hospital. A sort of sequel to Prison Bars, but can definitely be read on it's own.


**Thankyou to all of you who pointed out that Don did _not_ shoot the guard. Got the memo "anonymous" :) I have now edited a couple of things, so hopefully it's okay now. **

* * *

She'd cancelled a date. A date with Larry. To see _him_. She'd cancelled a very tightly scheduled, every-other-Friday movie and dinner with a man she adored to go to a hospital, drink horrible coffee and watch Colby Granger sleep. And the worst thing was, it wasn't even ten minutes before Larry was meant to pick her up. 

What the hell was wrong with her?

Megan sighed. Somehow she couldn't bring herself to go in. It's not like she didn't want to. She swore her feet had minds of their own, and they didn't want to move. It had absolutely _nothing_ to do with her nerves. Or her whacked-out conscience.

Yeah right.

Who was she kidding?

He looked so horribly wrong lying there in a hospital bed. Sure, he was rid of his oxygen mask, but he still looked sickly pale. No-one was used to seeing him like this. Even David, who had probably seen Colby in his weakest state, looked undeniably solemn walking out of the room. She took a sip of the god-awful coffee that the hospital provided and grimaced. Water and caffeine did _not_ equal coffee.

Megan groaned, looking through the window yet again. Why was it suddenly physically impossible for her to talk to him? Even when he was in _prison_ she'd managed to strike up a conversation, even if it was somewhat uncivilised. Yet some part of her mind knew this was completely different. He was innocent. Sure, maybe he'd lied, but he was definitely innocent. Last time she'd talked to him, she'd had a reason to hate him.

_But you didn't. You never hated him._

She knew her head was right, no matter how much she wanted to protest. She couldn't bring herself to hate him. Yes, she'd been angry, felt betrayed, hell, she even broke down a couple of times. Colby along with the Department of Justice assignment had been too much. She'd started to question whether to leave, and just as she was making her mind up, he came along and had to throw a spanner in the works. Megan didn't know whether she hated or loved him for it.

After taking another sip of the dreadful coffee, Megan threw it away. She'd prepared numerous speeches in her life, going from grade three history assessments to a lecture on serial killer profiling for a bunch of junior FBI agents just a few months ago. However, not a word she'd ever spoken could help her figure out what to say to Colby Granger.

"You going in?" Megan jumped at the sound of a voice. She turned around to find Doctor Reid, a doctor who had been monitoring Colby since he arrived.

"I was thinking about it. I'm not quite sure what to say though. As shocking as it is, I haven't had a lot of experience in hospitals."

"Who says you have to say anything?" Dr. Reid smiled. "He's asleep, and even if he wakes up, there's no need to talk. I can tell you he hasn't had many visitors. Not since he got here. He'll be glad to see you." Megan gave a small laugh.

"And here I was, thinking that you didn't even know who I was."

"Well, I don't. But I do know you were here when he came in. I saw you outside the window." She began to walk away, but turned back. "Look, I've seen a _lot_ of patients in my life. Sometimes the best thing for them is just to know that someone's there…to know that they care enough to sit by your side when you're at your weakest. Just go in. He'll appreciate it whether you talk or not."

"Yeah. Thanks. You know, you doctors aren't half bad." Dr. Reid smirked.

"Good to know. You FBI agents aren't half bad either." She took a few steps and stopped. "I just wish I saw less of you."

* * *

Contrary to popular belief, watching a patient wake up in hospital wasn't nearly as magical and clichéd as it was in movies. She'd been sitting in the chair for a good hour before Colby showed any slight sign of waking up. At first it was just a twitch of a finger, and Megan was almost sure she'd hallucinated. After around five, maybe ten minutes later, the heart-rate monitor started beeping a little faster and she could hear his breathing speed up. 

He was in pain.

Megan immediately looked at his face, trying to look for any signs that she should call somebody, but he opened his eyes slowly and gave the slightest nod, indicating that he could get through at least a small while without a nurse fussing over him. Megan reached for the cup of water beside his bed and picked it up. She'd at least had enough experience to know that he needed fluids.

She noticed his gaze drop as she lifted the cup to him, and as a profiler she knew the look immediately. She rolled her eyes and made him drink, before stepping back.

"Granger, I've known you for two years. I'm sure me giving you water isn't the most embarrassing thing I've done to you." He didn't respond.

Still, the other, more rational side of her profiling mind reminded her that he was a soldier at heart. He wasn't used to getting help for such simple tasks - at least not by a woman. Colby Granger was tough. He could take practically anyone in a fight, he shot a gun like a born marksman…he took care of himself. And as much as she hated to admit it, the image of him being aided in a hospital bed… well, it scared her too.

"You know," His voice was raspy as usual. "No-one's actually visited me when I was awake these past few days. It's kinda nice to see someone that's not part of the hospital staff."

"Yeah, well, I would've dressed up in scrubs for you, but they don't quite match my complexion." He smirked, and she smiled. It felt kind of nice to ignore the big issues. Underneath, he hadn't changed. He was still the same Colby. At least she knew he hadn't been faking that.

They sat in silence for a while. It was one of those silences that wasn't awkward, yet it wasn't entirely comfortable either. Every now and then, she or Colby would make a move to say something, but thought against it. Megan could only guess it was because whatever weird silence was between them now was a whole lot better than yelling.

"So…ah, how's David?" She should have expected it really, but Megan still jumped at the sound of Colby asking.

"Well…would you like the truth, or do you want me to sugar-coat it for you?" Colby nodded a little dejectedly.

"I figured you'd say that. He's angry, huh?"

"Well what did you expect Colby? You were his best friend and-" Colby cut her off.

"I know all that Megan. You don't need to lecture me about it. I don't blame him. Hell, if I were him, I'd be pissed at me too." He took a breath, obviously needing the oxygen. "Don't worry. Forget I asked."

"Sorry." She looked over at Colby. "I just don't like seeing him hurt. Sometimes I can get a little overprotective."

"Not a bad thing." He rubbed his eyes. "And how are _you_ holding up?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, I don't see Megan Reeves' around."

"Well, I'm…" She paused to think of an appropriate sentence. "I guess I'm doing the best I can."

"Yeah? How good is that?" Megan raised her eyebrows at the question. It wasn't as if she didn't want to trust him with the truth, she just didn't want him to see her like this. She knew he was talking more about the aftermath of the DOJ mission than anything else. The thing was, she wasn't ready to talk about it without breaking down.

"It's enough." She looked away, and her voice held a tone of finality that Megan knew he couldn't argue with. Another five or so minutes passed and this time Colby wasn't the slightest bit hesitant to speak.

"Hey…so, did you arrest Dwayne? Because I haven't seen him in here and no-one's told me what happened…"

"Oh God Colby. You didn't…no-one told you? You didn't see what happened?"

"No. Nothing. I mean, one minute I hear some loudspeaker yelling "FBI" and the next, everything's going black and I'm hearing gunshots and someone got shot in the freighter, but I couldn't see-" He was going slightly hysterical and Megan could do nothing but interrupt.

"Dwayne's dead Colby."

"And then I could- wait…what?"

"Dwayne's dead. One of the guards shot him. We got in, and obviously Dwayne had shot Lancer, so they must have just reacted. I really don't know all the details. I got there after all that had happened." Colby nodded. "There wasn't time to explain anything. We had to get to _you_."

He looked up slightly surprised, and it almost broke Megan's heart. Before all this mess, he would have made some cocky comment and she would have punched him for it, but the statement implied trust, and Colby obviously thought he didn't deserve it.

"I still owe him." His voice was barely a whisper, but it was enough to ignite a spark in her.

"No. You don't owe him for anything. We could have been late and Dwayne could have left you there and you would have died. All Dwayne did was shoot Lancer at a moment that could have gone both ways. You don't owe him_ anything_. He may have saved your life once, but as I see it, he lost that 'get out of jail free card' along time ago."

"Yeah. Thanks." He leaned back into his pillow thoughtfully and Megan smiled.

"You're welcome."

"No really Megan. Thankyou." His eyes bore into hers and she suddenly realized she'd hate to ever be the suspect in an interrogation room with him. "Tell David…tell David I owe him. No matter how angry he gets, tell him it's true."

"I will." She gathered her bag and coat and gave him one last smile. "I should go. I'm meant to be on a date." Colby's eyes lit up and she could almost see his brain putting two and two together. Megan resisted the urge to groan.

"You cancelled a date with Fleinhardt to see _me_?"

"Not cancelled, just…delayed." He smirked, seeing right through the façade.

"Well don't I feel privileged?" On the outside, it was a joke, but his darkened eyes gave him away. They were sincere, so different to when he had joked with her before.

He was grateful. He trusted them…and it had always been that way.

Because regardless of what he'd done, Megan still knew she trusted him too.


End file.
